


Let the world turn without you tonight

by riverwrenwrites



Series: TUA Creator's Bingo [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Diego is softer than he lets on, Fluff, Gen, Luther is scared of thunder, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25015930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riverwrenwrites/pseuds/riverwrenwrites
Summary: TUA Creator's Bingo EntryPrompt Filled: CrackAt 16, Luther is sent on an academy mission with his brother. And of all the people to find out about his fear of thunderstorms, he really didn’t want it to be Diego.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves
Series: TUA Creator's Bingo [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715587
Comments: 9
Kudos: 111





	Let the world turn without you tonight

“This is bullshit.”

Luther took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying to block out the sound of Diego’s incessant whining. Their mission was simple enough. They’d been bundled into a car and driven to a park at the edge of the city, with strict instructions to set up camp and watch for “suspicious activity” in the apartment block across the street. So they… Well,  _ he,  _ had set up a small tent in the grass, and now they…  _ He,  _ was keeping watch, while Diego, as usual, did whatever the hell he wanted. 

Apparently all Diego wanted to do right now was be as irritating as possible, which seemed to come naturally to him. For the last thirty minutes he’d been alternating between long winded speeches about his plans to leave the academy, and throwing small pebbles at the back of his head. As if on cue, another stone hit him and he clenched his jaw, looking over his shoulder at him. Diego, who was lying on his back in the tent, one hand beneath his head and the other rolling yet another pebble between his fingers, smiled innocently at him. 

“Stop it,” Luther muttered. 

“Stop what?”

“Throwing stuff at me.”

“I’m not.” Diego chuckled as he flicked the pebble at him, hitting him in the centre of his forehead. “Must be your imagination.” 

“Look,” He said, exasperated. “I get that this is all a big joke to you, but can you  _ please  _ just let me concentrate on our mission.”

Diego smirked at him and shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure. You get back to saving the world.”

“I will.”

“Fine.”

“Good!”

“Great!”

An hour passed in blissful silence and night began to fall, with only the dim glow of a streetlamp at the edge of the park lighting their camp. It was starting to become apparent that the apartment block Luther had been watching the for better part of the evening was unoccupied. The windows remained dark, and he had yet to see anyone come or go. In fact, he hadn’t even seen anybody walk past. Maybe  _ that  _ was the “suspicious activity” dad had been talking about. He’d been pretty vague in his mission briefing, which was unusual for dad, and although he wasn’t about to admit it to Diego, he wasn’t entirely sure what they were actually supposed to be  _ doing  _ here.

He heard a rustling noise behind him, and when he glanced over his shoulder he saw Diego rifling through his bag and pulling out a pack of chips. 

“You want some?” He asked when he noticed Luther watching him. “I packed loads.” 

They’d been sent off on their mission before dinner, and it hadn’t occurred to Luther to pack any food while he was getting ready. Still, despite the growling in his stomach, he shook his head. 

“You shouldn’t have those,” He muttered. “Dad doesn’t like junk food.” 

“ _ Dad doesn’t like junk food _ ,” Diego mimicked. “Do you hear yourself when you talk? It’s embarrassing. If dad didn’t want me to eat junk then  _ maybe  _ he should have fed me before he sent me out here. I can’t stab people on an empty stomach. Messes with my concentration.” 

“We’re not here to  _ stab  _ people,” Luther argued and Diego cocked his brow curiously, leaning back on his elbows. 

“And what  _ are  _ we here for, exactly?” 

Clenching his jaw, Luther looked down at the grass. “Our mission is to-” 

“There is no mission, you moron,” Diego cut in. “This is just dad’s not-so-subtle way of getting rid of us for a few hours.” He pointed at his face, where the black eye he was sporting was still clearly visible, so swollen that his eye was half closed. “ _ This _ is why we’re here.”

Luther cringed. He hadn’t  _ meant  _ to hit Diego that hard. It was easy to forget that for all his talk, his brother was a lot more fragile than he was. Unfortunately it seemed that nowadays they spent more time throwing punches at each other than anything else, and that morning it had gotten so bad that Pogo and Grace had to physically wrestle them away from each other. He couldn’t even remember what they’d been arguing about anymore. Probably something stupid. They both knew exactly how to rile the other up until even the smallest disagreement escalated into a fight. Still, he didn’t see what that had to do with their mission. Dad had been pretty mad at them earlier, but he still seemed to trust them enough to send them out on their own. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” He said quietly, frowning when Diego rolled his eyes at him. 

“You and me got into a massive punch up and  _ suddenly  _ dad sends us out into the middle of nowhere on a super vague, completely pointless mission. You  _ really  _ think that’s just a coincidence? He wanted us out of his hair.” 

“That’s not true.” Luther scowled at him. “He wouldn’t have sent us here if it wasn’t important.”

“He sent us here because he’s a psychopath who wouldn’t know what good parenting was if it smacked him in the face.” 

“Shut up.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to leave us here forever.”

“I said  _ shut up!  _ ” Luther snapped, clenching his fists furiously. “He wouldn’t do that.”

Shrugging, Diego tossed a chip into his mouth and stayed silent. There was a low rumble in the distance and they both sat upright, looking around for the source of the noise. Diego was the first to relax, sliding his knife back into his belt. 

“It’s just thunder,” He said as the first spots of rain started falling. “Relax.”

The two of them scrambled over to their tent as the rain started to get heavier, Diego tucking himself up in the far corner while Luther sat at the edge, determined to continue his surveillance of the building. 

A sharp crack echoed around them as lightning streaked across the sky and Luther flinched at the sound, hugging his arms tightly around himself and drawing his knees up to his chest. They didn’t get many storms in their town, but Luther hated them. The thunder claps and the cracks of lightning and the sound of the rain hammering down were all overwhelming. It felt like he was back on another mission, surrounded by the chaos of guns and fighting and breaking bones as they all tried to fend off men twice their size. He tried to disguise the way he flinched with each roll of thunder, but eventually Diego noticed, and Luther could hear him snigger behind him. 

“Quit being a baby,” He teased, prodding him with his toe. “It’s a storm, not the end of the world.”

Luther could have made a jab about Diego passing out when Grace explained how his T shots were gonna work, but he kept his mouth clamped shut as he tensed up in preparation for the next explosion of noise. Thunder boomed above them and he whimpered, digging his fingers into his arms and squeezing his eyes shut. Why did this have to happen  _ now?  _ There was no way Diego was gonna let this go, and there was  _ no way  _ he was going to cry in front of him. He felt Diego prod him again and braced himself for more teasing, but his voice was softer this time. 

“I was just joking, Lu,” He said quietly, shuffling over to him when Luther didn’t reply. “Seriously, are you okay?” 

Luther nodded, sniffling and wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve. 

“You don’t look okay.” Diego was quiet for a moment before turning towards him again. “The storm’s ten miles away,” He said confidently. “You don’t have to worry.”

Perplexed, Luther looked up at him. “How do you know that?”

“Easy. You count the seconds between the thunder and the lightning. Five seconds for every mile. That was fifty seconds so… Ten miles.” He grinned proudly at him. “I read it in a book.”

“Wow,” Luther said quietly. “I didn’t know you could read.”

“Ass.” Diego elbowed him in the ribs and they both laughed. 

Letting out a sigh, Luther tucked his knees up against his chest and rested his chin on them. Outside the apartment block, two people were huddled together under the canopy, trying to get some shelter from the rain. Last time Luther checked, that was neither evil or suspicious. Diego was watching them too, wrinkling his nose up periodically as water dripped from the edge of the tent onto his head, but stubbornly refusing to move a few inches to the right to avoid it. 

“Who names a team ‘The  _ Umbrella  _ Academy’ and then doesn’t even give them  _ actual  _ umbrellas,” He muttered and Luther sniggered. “The man’s a lunatic, I’m telling you.” 

Another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by another crack of thunder. Luther flinched again. Diego didn’t say anything this time. 

“It’s getting further away,” He observed quietly.

Luther nodded, though he wasn’t sure whether to believe him. The noise sure didn’t  _ sound  _ like it was getting further away. 

“Do you really think dad’s gonna leave us here?” He asked after a few minutes. The storm seemed to have washed away all his resolve, replacing it with a niggling sense of doubt and uncertainty that made him question if maybe Diego  _ was  _ right about him. 

For a moment Diego was silent, shaking his head and turning away from him. 

“Nah,” He said, picking at the grass by his feet. “You’re our Number One. No way he’d kick you out.” 

The rain seemed to be dying down, and the thunder was nothing more than a low rumble in the distance. Apparently Diego knew more about storms than Luther gave him credit for. 

“You should really eat something,” He said out of nowhere, nudging Luther’s arm. I’ll keep watch for a while.”

Luther frowned. “I thought you said-”

“Forget what I said,” He interrupted. “Just… Eat something, please. There’s stuff in my bag.”

Hesitantly, Luther turned his back on the apartment block and crawled across the tent to Diego’s bag, rifling through it until he found a bar of chocolate. Diego glanced over his shoulder at him, relaxing and leaning back on his elbows once he was satisfied that he was eating. 

“Sorry about your eye, by the way,” Luther said between mouthfuls and Diego shrugged. 

“I’ve had worse.”

Luther’s eyes fell on the cut across the side of Diego’s face, now a faded pink colour, and frowned. 

“Klaus said it makes me look cool,” He said, as though he could  _ feel  _ Luther looking at the scar. “When I leave, I’m gonna pick up so many girls with this baby.” 

He tapped the side of his head and grinned at him, and Luther gave a halfhearted nod, unsure of how reliable Klaus was as a source of information. 

“Are you really gonna leave?” He asked, because for all Diego’s talk about his plans, it was hard to imagine him  _ actually  _ leaving. 

“Yup,” Diego said without a second of hesitation. “As soon as I’m eighteen. I’m gonna get a job, buy a car, and get as far away from this place as possible.”

Luther blinked at him. “As in leave the  _ city?  _ ”

“Leave the city, leave the state. Whatever. Hell if I’m staying here for the rest of my life.” 

The two of them fell into a solemn silence as they both considered the reality of that. Whenever Diego talked about leaving, which was a lot, Luther always imagined he would just live a few streets down, stopping by for breakfast or dinner a few times a week. Not leaving as in  _ actually  _ leaving. Not leaving as in never seeing him again. Diego didn’t seem to have considered it before either, suddenly looking a little less sure of himself as he shifted uncomfortably. 

“You could come with me if you want,” He said quietly, folding his arms. “Not just you, obviously. I’ll ask the others too. We’ll all go.”

For a moment, Luther found himself genuinely considering it, but the idea of abandoning dad, abandoning the academy, abandoning his  _ duty _ , was too much and he shook his head. 

“I can’t.” 

“You can’t stay here forever, Lu.” Diego scooted over to him, his expression turning serious. “That asshole’s gonna control you for the rest of your life if you don’t stand up to him.” 

“Don’t call him that,” He mumbled as he hung his head. 

“ _ Surely  _ you realise that he-”

“ _ Don’t _ ,” Luther warned, and Diego backed off, slumping his shoulders and turning back around. 

The storm had circled back around towards them, the thunder growing louder again and the sky lighting up with bolts of lightning. 

“You okay?” Diego asked and Luther nodded, wrapping his arms around himself. 

Diego didn’t look convinced, grabbing his coat from the corner of the tent and folding it into a makeshift pillow. 

“Try and get some sleep,” He instructed, guiding Luther’s shoulders until he had no choice but to lay down. “I’ll wake you up when the storm’s over.” 

Luther closed his eyes, the sound of the storm a little less overwhelming with Diego’s hand resting on his shoulder, reminding him that, for now at least, he was still there. 


End file.
